Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood
by Galaxy1001D
Summary: When an assassination attempt against Inspector Gadget fails, the minions of MAD turn their attention to his young niece, Penny.
1. Strike at the Bowling Alley

**Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood**

_Inspector Gadget and all related characters and setting are owned by __**Cookie Jar Entertainment**__. DiC now remains an in-credit name only. _

_Chapter One: Strike at the Bowling Alley_

To the naked eye, Inspector Gadget looked as average as could be. He was average height with an average build. He looked about forty, an average age. His looks were slightly below average. His long face had beady black eyes and his messy black hair had a receding hairline. He wasn't going to win any beauty contests. No one on his side of the family ever did.

One thing that did make Inspector Gadget stand out was that he was a cyborg, a bionic detective. Hidden in his body were a wide variety of mechanical devices that sometimes, actually worked! On the outside he looked pretty normal, at least until he did something uncanny.

Since the death of his sister and her husband he had been the legal guardian of his ten year old niece Penny, who was decidedly above average, way above average. Penny Dollar inherited her good looks from her father, and didn't look like anyone from her mother's side of the family. She looked like the little girl from _Aliens_. She was blessed with teal-green eyes, perfect skin, blonde hair and a unique high pitched throaty voice that was perfect for conveying both care and concern.

More importantly she was a super genius just like her late parents. Her analytical mind would cure cancer someday or create the first true artificial intelligence. Her parents were both brilliant scientists. Her mother was an electronic and computer genius and her father had been the leading expert in canine biology.

Their dog Brain was Penny's late father's greatest achievement. He was a unique breed that was based off the golden Labrador, but he was far superior to any normal house pet. Conceived as the perfect Seeing Eye dog, his hyper developed brain was able to understand human speech and even possessed limited telepathic talents to aid in conversation with his human charges. In addition, his skeletal structure was modified in order to give the dog opposable thumbs and the ability to walk erect if he so chose.

All and all, they were an unusual family but they tried their best to appear 'normal'. For example, Penny went to school just like every other kid even though she was easily smart enough to teach the classes she was taking.

Ever since the accident that turned him into a bionic man, Inspector Gadget exhibited signs of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He always dressed in the same clothing every day. Even indoors, he wore a grey raincoat with a matching fedora over a white shirt, blue pants, black tie and black shoes. His brown gloves he wore all the time, for they were his hands now. Professor von Slickstein had promised him a more realistic set of hands two years ago and he was still waiting for them.

His niece Penny wore a short sleeved red shirt bisected by a wide white stipe and green pants with yellow patches on the knees almost every day. Her uncle had bought multiple sets the same clothing in different sizes so she could grow into them. There _were_ rare times when she wore something different though.

"Penny!" Inspector Gadget called from the ground floor of their house. "Don't forget your rain parka! It looks like it might rain you know!"

"All right Uncle Gadget!" his niece's scratchy voice called back.

See? I told you sometimes Penny wears something different. Today she's taking a red rain parka.

"I'd better take off for headquarters…" he said as a ringing sound distracted him. He glanced around but for the life of him he couldn't imagine where that telephone sound was coming from. A strange metallic dish unfolded itself around his ear, only to fold in on itself and vanish again.

"Uncle Gadget, it's the top secret Gadget-phone," his niece said as she came down the stairs.

"Thank you Penny," he said as he pulled a tiny antenna out of his thumb. A wide variety of technological devices were hidden in his hands, including a secured cellular telephone. "Is that you, Chief?" he whispered into the telephone. "You're where? Right away Chief!"

Penny and her orange dog Brain watched Gadget carefully as he opened the front door to see a short blonde fireplug of a man in a postal uniform with a full mustache smoking a pipe. "Oh, it's the postman!" Gadget was momentarily startled, but he regained his composure. "Any mail today?"

"Uncle Gadget it's Chief Quimby," Penny told him. "He's only dressed like a postman." Brain frowned and shook his head.

"Here's your assignment Gadget," the undercover police chief said as he handed an envelope to the bionic detective. Unknown to the general public, both Gadget and Quimby were part of a top secret division of Interpol that investigated international criminal conspiracies and terrorist plots. Whenever Quimby was forced to contact Gadget when Penny was around, he always wore a disguise as an additional security measure. "Read this."

Gadget opened the envelope and removed a slip of paper. As Gadget read the paper aloud, the sound of an electric typewriter emanated from his somewhere inside his skull. "'Mysterious informant telephoned headquarters and offered to reveal the secret identity of Doctor Claw in exchange for protection. Is willing to meet only with Inspector Gadget and doesn't trust police. Make contact at the Metro City Bowling Alley on 5th street. Your assignment is to meet the informant and get the information without scaring him off. This message will self-destruct.'"

"I don't like it, Gadget. It sounds like a trap," Quimby shook his head. "You could be facing the most deadly peril."

"And… loving it!" Gadget replied pompously. "It might be a trap but it's the best lead we've gotten in two years. Don't worry Chief. I won't go alone. The informant said just me and no other police, right?" When the chief nodded Gadget continued, "So I'll take Corporal Capeman with me. He'll be an extra set of eyes."

"Very well, good luck and stay in contact," Quimby nodded. As he turned to leave Gadget absently put the secret message in the mail bag the police chief carried on his back.

"You better keep an eye on Uncle Gadget Brain," the girl whispered to her dog. "I think Chief Quimby is right. It _does_ sound like a trap!"

"Right," the dog whispered back.

"Ready for school, Penny?" Gadget asked the girl. "You better get going right away. It could start to rain at any moment!"

The sound of an explosion boomed through the door as stamped envelopes fluttered in the air.

"Wowsers, it sounds like it's ready to cut loose," Gadget said as he opened the door to a coat closet. He handed Penny a scarlet rain cape with a protective hood. "You better wear this; that sounded like thunder."

"Why do I put up with him?" a blackened and bruised Quimby moaned from the front yard.

* * *

><p>Miles away, a sinister man in a high backed chair watched Gadget's image through a computer monitor. The chair had a stylized cat face log with horns instead of ears on the back as well as the capital letters 'M A D'. "Ha-ha-ha!" laughed a deep inhuman voice as a black sleeved arm flexed a fist concealed by a metal glove. "You're falling right into my trap, Gadget! Once you're gone, I'll be able to replace you with my own agent and the world will be my oyster!" An overweight cat sitting on the table made laughing noises with him. "Woolf!" He pushed a button his keyboard and the image of Gadget vanished to be replaced by that of a man who looked similar to the police inspector but whose hair was shorter and slicked back. "Make sure there are no other police with Gadget before you spring the trap. I don't want any witnesses when it happens."<p>

"Don't worry Doctor Claw," Woolf assured him. "If Gadget brings backup he'll never see my face."

"See that he doesn't or else no one will ever see your face ever again!" Claw threatened. He cleared the screen of his computer. "Well Madcat, when Gadget gets to the bowling alley, that's when we'll strike! Get it? 'Strike?' Mooh-hoo-ha-ha-ha!"

Madcat laughed along with him.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Gadget and Capeman were at the bowling alley. "Well Capman, we've been here for hours and we still haven't been approached. It looks like a wild goose chase."<p>

Corporal Capeman was a fat nerdy teenager who dressed in a garish superhero costume. Flying goggles, acne and buck teeth completed the appearance of someone who was too geeky to get into a science fiction convention. "Too bad Inspector, but at least we've been able to practice our bowling." With that Capeman squinted at the bowling pins and blew on his bowling ball. He waddled forward and threw the bowling ball that went straight up before returning to the ground with a loud THUD. The bowl then rolled _slow…ly_… down the lane before drifting into the gutter and missing every pin.

"Good throw Capman, your aim is improving," Gadget smiled in a fatherly fashion. He didn't notice that he had mispronounced the Capeman's moniker. As a matter of fact, he usually called Capeman 'Capman' and had only referred to the clueless fanboy as 'Capeman' that morning by accident. "You keep practicing while I go check in with the chief." He walked away from the noisy alley and glanced around. So far he and Capeman were the only customers. As a matter of fact they were the only people in the building aside of that short guy by the door who looked like an orange dog dressed in a bowling shirt and golf pants. It was the perfect time to contact the chief without being overheard.

In reality, the guy by the door was Gadget's dog Brain disguised as a human being. Somehow Penny's father had given the dog the power of suggestion allowing him to pass for a human if he dressed the part. The poor dog had no idea how it worked and was unable to hypnotize people or make them act like a chicken, but it was very handy for getting into places dogs weren't allowed to go.

"Brain," Penny's voice hissed. "Let's go outside."

The dog looked behind him to see Penny in the doorway gesturing at him. He followed the blonde pig tailed girl out to the sidewalk and listened.

"I just got out of school," Penny whispered as she glanced around. "Is everything okay with Uncle Gadget?"

"Oh reah," the dog nodded. "Row rouble row far," he mumbled.

Inside Gadget was making a similar report into a communication device hidden in his hand. "That's right, Chief," he said while his sidekick was making a mockery out of bowling, "No one has contacted us so far. This place is emptier than a cookie jar in a kindergarten class. No don't worry; I don't think it's a trap. We're completely safe."

At that moment the ball that came out of the automatic ball slot emerged to reveal that it had a stylized catface logo with horns instead of ears. It also had a fuse instead of holes for the fingers. "I wonder where the holes are?" Capeman said as he picked up and examined the bomb.

The explosion knocked Penny and Brain off their feet and even tipped over the bicycle that Penny had leaned against the wall of the building. "Uncle Gadget!" Penny gasped. "Oh no!"

_Next: Back to the Drawing Board_


	2. Back to the Drawing Board

**Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood**

_Inspector Gadget and all related characters and setting are owned by __**Cookie Jar Entertainment**__. DiC now remains an in-credit name only. _

_Chapter Two: Back to the Drawing Board_

Inspector Gadget woke up to the sounds of rhythmic electronic beeps. He experienced a sense of _deja vou_, like this had happened to him before, but he couldn't remember where. He opened his eyes and found himself in Professor von Slickstein's laboratory.

"Ah, you're awake," said a stooped bespectacled old man in a high piping voice. "Welcome back to the land of the living my boy."

"Professor von Slickstein!" the bionic inspector gasped as he sat up and got off the lab table. "What happened? What am I doing here? Don't tell me it was a trap!"

"It was a trap, Gadget," Chief Quimby said grimly. He was now in normal clothing rather than the postal uniform he wore earlier.

"I asked you not to tell me that," Gadget sighed.

"One of the bowling balls was a bomb," Quimby explained. "The informant never showed. I don't think you were ever going to meet with an informant."

"The old 'bomb in the bowling ball' trick eh?" Gadget sneered. "That's the second time I've fallen for it this year!"

"Uncle Gadget, you're alive!" Penny burst into the room hugged him. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

Her orange dog followed her in. "Bow wow!" Brain stood up and hugged him too.

"You're very fortunate that you weren't injured," von Slickstein informed him. "Happily the force of the explosion was absorbed by a protective layer of blubber."

"Well thank goodness we had a protective layer of blubber," Gadget sighed in relief. "A protective layer of _blubber_?" Gadget did a double take. "Where did _that_ come from? Did it protect Corporal Capeman as well?"

"I'm afraid it _was_ Corporal Capeman," Quimby said sadly as he looked at a hospital gurney that held a large mass hidden by a white sheet. "He didn't make it."

"Corporal Capeman!" Penny gasped. "Oh no!"

Brain chuckled guiltily.

"You are _so_ right, Brain," a blushing Penny smiled. "He totally wrecked the show."

"I'm not dead," moaned the body under the sheet.

"Shut up! Yes you are! You're gone and dead forever!" Penny said as she hit the body under the sheet with her computer book.

"Ow!" Capeman cried.

Brain hit the shape under the sheet with a baseball bat. The bat made a loud cracking noise.

"Ooh…" Capeman moaned as golden stars spun around the side of the gurney that supported his fat pimply bucktoothed head.

"Doctor Claw has gone too far!" Gadget announced as he pointed at the ceiling dramatically. "I swear to never rest until I avenge Capman's death and bring that scoundrel to justice! What leads do we have, Chief?"

"None," Chief Quimby said.

"In that case it's been a long day and it's time for dinner," Inspector Gadget yawned and stretched. "Come on Penny, let's go home."

"Out of this tragedy, I do have some good news," Professor von Slickstein said. "During my examination of Inspector Gadget I noticed an anomaly in his cerebral functions. It seems that two years ago when I connected the good inspector's nervous system to his mechanical body I accidentally interfered with one of the lobes of his brain."

"My brain? What is it?" Gadget exclaimed.

"It's the center of the nervous system that controls the other organs in your body," Slickstein explained.

"I _know_ that," Gadget coughed, "but I heard you say that you interfered with part of my brain. What does that part of my brain do? Is it serious?"

"It's the part of your brain that handles recognition," von Slickstein informed him. "Due to electronic interference, it was only operating at half capacity. Thanks to my mistake, you probably had trouble recognizing things for what they were."

"Recognizing things?" Gadget asked defensively. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that it was possible for you not to recognize your darling niece there if she dressed in different clothing," the elderly scientist clarified. "You could mistake a bank robbery for a moving service or Doctor Claw's Madmobile for a taxi cab."

"Chief the Professor is wrong!" Gadget protested. "I would _never _mistake the Madmobile for a taxi cab in a _million years_!"

"You already did," von Slickstein told him. "In the Amazon. Don't you remember?"

"Would you believe: I might mistake it for a taxi cab just _once_?" Gadget blushed.

"This answers about a hundred questions and raises about a hundred more," Quimby said as he shook his head.

"There's no need to be embarrassed, I should have caught it much earlier," von Slickstein assured him. "It's my fault, actually. But you'll be glad to know that I corrected that oversight. The inspector's brain should be working normally now. All my tests for interference or blockage came out negative."

"Negative?" Gadget gasped in horror. "It came out 'negative'? What does that mean, Doctor? Do I have any brain damage? Am I dying or something? What do you mean by 'negative'?"

"Uncle Gadget, it simply means that he didn't find anything wrong," Penny told him.

"Oh! Yes… well I was just making sure!" he stammered. "I don't know how to thank you Professor. Here let me help you put things away. Go-go Gadget-arms." His arms extended and he pushed the gurney holding Capeman through a set of double doors.

"Gadget before I go I better show you where we parked your car," Quimby gestured from a set of doors on the opposite end of the room. "Let's go out to the parking lot."

"Right with you Chief!" Gadget turned and followed Quimby out. Von Slickstein, Penny and Brain left the room also.

On the other side of the first set of doors the gurney carrying Capeman teetered dangerously at the top of a set of stairs before crashing down in a cacophony of noise. "Ow!" Capeman whined. "Still alive…" he moaned.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile miles and miles away in a hidden chamber Doctor Claw was angry. "Woolf, you idiot!" Claw roared at the image on his computer screen. "Inspector Gadget still lives! You only eliminated his fool sidekick! I expected better from you! Oh well, at least you got rid of Capeman! He totally ruined the show…"<p>

"I'm still alive…" Capeman voice groaned from somewhere. "Need some medical help over here…"

Claw picked up a telephone and dialed a number. Soon he was speaking in a confidential tone to someone on the other end. "Hello? Yes… it's me… I'd like you to eliminate Corporal Capeman... Yes, the one who totally wrecked the show… No he's not dead, just very badly injured. Yes, thank you. Good-bye."

Doctor Claw hung up the telephone and twiddled his thumbs while listening to the drama unfolding offstage. Madcat flicked an ear and looked confused. The sound of a door opening could be heard.

"Hello, have you come to take me to the hospital?" Capeman's voice asked.

A gunshot echoed offstage. "Meow!" Madcat jumped in surprise.

"You shot me!" Capeman's voice cried in horror. Doctor Claw started to touch the keyboard on his computer when he heard Capeman cry out again. "You shot me right in the arm! Why did you—?" His question was interrupted by a second gunshot, then a third.

Madcat cocked his head to one side and listened, then nodded at Doctor Claw.

"Now where were we?" Doctor Claw said to the frightened henchman who vaguely resembled Gadget on the other side of his computer screen. "Oh yes, the original plan is totally ruined isn't it?"

"Back to the old drawing board Doctor Claw," Woolf shrugged nervously.

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Claw's hand tapped on the desk impatiently.

"No wait! I got an idea!" Woolf said. "You wanted me to take Gadget's place so I could get close to the President, right? Well what if we could force Gadget to kidnap the President for you? That would mean something, right?"

"And how do we get him to do _that_?" A skeptical Doctor Claw steepled his fingers. "The Inspector Gadget _I_ know is in the crime _prevention_ business."

"Gadget's a family man," Woolf offered. "We kidnap his niece and we can force him to do anything we want."

"Kidnap his niece!" Doctor Claw chortled. "What a novel idea! Even if he doesn't do what we say he'll be so distracted he'll be useless! Excellent Woolf! Put your plan into operation as soon as you're ready!"

"Yes, Doctor Claw!" the henchman hit himself on the side of the head with a strange salute.

* * *

><p>The next day, Inspector Gadget and his ten-year-old niece once again prepared to leave the house. "I'm worried Brain," Penny said to her loyal dog. "Yesterday somebody tried to take out Uncle Gadget and we still don't know why! I'll bet Doctor Claw is behind this somehow!"<p>

"Right!" the dog barked.

"I hope nothing happens today," she sighed as she picked up her backpack and left her room. "We're taking grandma out to dinner this evening! You'd better keep an eye on Uncle Gadget, Brain, just to be safe."

"Woof!" the dog nodded as they walked down the stairs.

"Here you go, Penny," Inspector Gadget was waiting by the front door while holding a picnic basket. "Here are the cookies you baked yesterday. Just in time for my mother's birthday!" He handed her the basket and patted Brain on the head.

"I can't wait to give grandma this basket of goodies," Penny smiled as she took the picnic basket. "They should be a hit with her friends at the senior center."

"It looks like rain again Penny, so you better take your rain cape," he said as he handed her a scarlet hood and cloak. "Better safe than sorry you know."

"I know, Uncle Gadget," she said as she put the red hood over her head and tied the cape in place. "Don't worry."

"Don't forget to visit her after school and give her the cookies," Gadget told her.

"Don't worry," she smiled. "I won't forget. Goodbye Uncle Gadget," she said as she walked out the door. "See you later!"

"Goodbye Penny!" he waved as she went down the walk through the front yard. "Look both ways before you cross the street!"

"I will Uncle!" she assured him as she used a button on her watch to open the garage and remove her bicycle. "I'll be careful!" she waved as she pedaled away.

Penny travelled several blocks until she stopped at a red light. A blue van pulled up to the intersection but since she was on the right side of it she couldn't see the stylized cat logo with horns instead of ears on the back doors.

"Hey little girl," Woolf called from the driver's seat. "Are you willing to participate in a blind taste test?"

"I can't. I'm on my way to school," the red hooded girl shook her head as she moved her bike onto the sidewalk to get some distance between herself and the van. "I don't have time, sorry."

"Oh uh, that's okay," Woolf's face fell when he saw how alert and wary his target was being. "How 'bout later? Will you be coming back this way after school?"

"Nope," Penny shook her head. "After school I'm on my way to Grandma's house. It's her birthday and I'm going to give her this basket of goodies." She removed the red raincape hanging from her neck off the back of her bike to reveal a picnic basket covered with a spotted blue handkerchief. "Sorry. Have a nice day."

At that moment the light changed and Penny pedaled off with Woolf's van in pursuit. "Is that guy following me?" Penny asked herself. "One way to find out!" She pulled her bike off the sidewalk and through a park. She looked behind her and saw the van come to a halt by the curb. The man who vaguely resembled Uncle Gadget was watching her the entire time. "That guy _is_ following me!" Penny gasped as she pedaled furiously away as fast as she could. "What's going on here anyway? Who could be after me?"

* * *

><p>Quimby was going through a file cabinet at Metro City Police Headquarters when Gadget arrived. Unfortunately Quimby was right behind the door and when Gadget entered the room he accidentally knocked the short police chief into the filing cabinet that was pushed shut from the action of the door. "Yagh!"<p>

"Is that you Chief?" Gadget looked around. "Where are you?"

As the door swung shut Quimby managed to kick the drawer open a few inches.

Gadget opened the drawer the rest of the way and pulled the battered and bruised chief out. "Why Chief, what are you doing in there? Is this some kind of drill?"

"No Gadget, I was simply looking for these waivers that Capeman signed," Quimby sighed as he got to his feet. He brandished a handful of legal documents. "They clear the department of any liability for Capeman's death. Even though he's gone, the department doesn't have to worry about legal action at least."

"Poor Capman," Gadget shook his head. "I miss him already."

"Miss him?" asked an incredulous Quimby. "Why? He totally wrecked the show."

"I'm not dead…" Capeman's voice moaned from offstage. "I could use a little help here. I'm really in a great deal of pain…"

"Gadget, will you excuse me for a moment?" Quimby asked.

"Not at all Chief, take your time," Gadget shrugged.

Quimby pulled a shotgun out from behind a desk, made sure it was loaded and cocked it. He then left the room.

Gadget turned and noticed a short orange girl dressed in a skirted police uniform. "I haven't seen you before, are you new here?"

"Woof," the disguised Brain said nervously.

They both jumped when they heard the boom of a shotgun being fired repeatedly. After a moment, Quimby entered the room carrying a smoking shotgun.

"They really need to soundproof the firing range better," Gadget mused.

"Firing range?" Quimby blinked as he placed the shotgun behind his desk. "Uh, yeah… firing range… Don't worry about the firing range," he said as authority returned to his voice. "Someone tried to kill you Gadget, and I'm afraid they'll try again. I'm considering placing you in protective custody."

"Aw Chief, I don't need protective custody!" Gadget protested. "I can look after myself! I don't need anybody looking out for me!"

Brain made a snorting sound and looked at the ceiling.

"Besides it's my mother's birthday today," Gadget continued. "At least let me take my mother out to dinner before locking me in a safehouse. It's only fair!"

"All right Gadget," Quimby sighed. "But you're riding a desk until we figure out who's gunning for you."

* * *

><p>When school was out Penny walked over to her bike. It had started to sprinkle so she wore her red rain cape and put the hood up. As she was unlocking her bicycle from the bike rack she noticed a familiar silhouette behind her. "Uncle Gadget?" Had he come to give her a ride home? She turned and saw that it wasn't her Uncle Gadget, it was the man who looked slightly like him who was following her that morning. He was also wearing a hat and a raincoat. "Who are you?"<p>

"Come with me, little girl!" the man said as he seized her and pulled her into his van. "You're going to be spending a lot of time with me," he snarled. "You better be on your best behavior if you ever want to see your Uncle Gadget again!"

_Next: Get That Girl_


	3. Get That Girl

**Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood**

_Inspector Gadget and all related characters and setting are owned by __**Cookie Jar Entertainment**__. DiC remains an in-credit name only. _

_Chapter Three: Get That Girl_

Woolf dragged Penny into the van where a large burly henchman was waiting behind the wheel. The blonde girl kicked and bit and struggled with all her might as she was forced inside. Penny's feet were off the ground and flailing wildly in the air. Suddenly her foot collided with a part of Woolf's body that Penny didn't have.

"Ow!" Woolf groaned as he let Penny go to clutch painfully at his groin.

Penny turned around kicked at Woolf with all her might. Woolf was bending over, and from inside the van Penny was able to kick at his face. He staggered away clutching his face, giving the girl the opening she needed to escape. She jumped past him and ran across the street.

Penny dashed across the street, only to see a black convertible pull up and park in front of the ice cream parlor. The top opened to reveal three vicious looking men who watched Penny with predatory glares. She dashed inside looking for a place to hide amongst the children who came in to enjoy an ice cream on the way home.

"Get that girl!" Woolf roared. "She's in the ice cream parlor! Come on!"

Woolf marched in with the three goons in a line behind him. With the fedora and the raincoat, he appeared to be Inspector Gadget's evil stunt double. "All right brat!" the hoodlum snarled as he closed on the helpless girl. "Now you're—"

"Wait a minute!" Penny smiled and pointed behind him. "Is that Uncle Gadget?"

When Woolf turned his head to look Penny punched up at his chin with all her might. The little ten-year-old girl put her entire weight behind the punch and swung upward to catch him with an uppercut. Woolf tumbled backwards onto a table. His lackeys stared at Woolf in disbelief until the little girl rammed the lead henchmen with her shoulder as if she was playing tackle football. The front henchman tumbled backwards knocking over his two fellows like a stack of dominoes. Penny wasted no time running out the door.

"That's Penny Dollar!" A ten-year-old boy with eyeglasses gushed. "She's not only smart but strong too! Omigosh she's a dream!"

Outside Penny ran back across the street towards the school until she spotted a boy she knew. "Michael!" she cried as she caught up to the ten-year-old boy the skateboard. "Stop! Stop! Stop! I need to borrow your skateboard!"

"Hey!" the boy protested when she pushed him off of it. "Come back here!"

"I'll give it back to you, all right?" she said as she put her foot on the skateboard and pushed the ground with her other foot. As she rolled away she looked behind her to see Woolf and his three goons dashing out of the ice cream parlor and across the street in her direction. She zipped away from the school and headed to the town square where she could get a lot of sidewalk and build up speed.

"Wow, look at her go!" Michael muttered, for he didn't think a girl could catch a baseball, let alone use a skateboard.

Woolf and the MAD agents ran up behind the boy and stared at the fleeing Penny. "Get her!" Woolf barked as they ran across the green in pursuit of the girl. The adults' long legs allowed them to cut diagonally across the lawn and catch up.

Just as they lunged at her, Penny tilted back on the skateboard just as a lime green pickup truck passed her. She seized the back corner of the truck with both hands, allowing it to tow her along with it. Since she was travelling in the opposite direction of the one-way street this made her double back on her route and instantly change course. Woolf and the others missed her and were forced to scramble after her on foot as the truck towed her away.

Penny smiled as she looked behind her to see the flustered looks on the kidnappers' faces. Woolf and his men ran back across the green to get in the convertible they left in front of the ice cream parlor. They reached it shortly after Penny and her truck passed it.

In the ice cream parlor, the children watched in fascination at the little girl's stunts.

"What is she doing?" one boy asked.

"She'll kill herself," a girl decided.

"She's an absolute dream!" the ten-year-old boy with eyeglasses announced.

Woolf got in the driving seat of the black opentop convertible as his three men piled in. He cut a circular turn across a corner of the green in order to catch up with Penny's lime green pickup truck. He hit the gas, causing the black car to get dangerously close to the truck.

Penny pulled herself off to the side as Woolf's car bumped the back of the truck. As the two vehicles passed the school she saw the large henchman open the door to the blue van right in front of her. If she continued holding on, she would hit the door to the van. "Aah!" She let go of the back of the truck and veered off onto the sidewalk to prevent a collision. Miraculously she landed safely but when she looked behind her to check on her pursuers she collided with two teachers who were leaving the school. All three of them tumbled to the ground and rolled out onto the street, papers flying in the wind.

There was no time to apologize as squealing tires let Penny know that Woolf and his men were almost on top of her. She rose to her feet to see them turn the corner and head right for her. She pushed away on her skateboard but she couldn't outrun a car. In desperation, she pivoted herself on the board so that she was facing the convertible and put her hands out to catch the front grill as the car caught up with her.

She held on the front of the hood and the hood ornament as the car turned a corner. Woolf's men threw bottles at her but with only her head peeking up over the hood, Penny made a poor target.

Penny had to push against the board to keep enough pressure on it to keep it from slipping away under her feet. Woolf was turning the convertible, making a total circle of the block in order to bring her back to the van.

Penny stole a glance behind her before she climbed up the grill and onto the hood. She scrabbled over the windshield and between the car seats until she slid off the trunk of the car to leap back onto the skateboard that had passed underneath the black convertible.

Woolf and his cronies stared back at her in disbelief. The large henchman in the parked blue van honked his horn to warn them that their car was heading straight for a collision. Woolf's head snapped back around and he turned the wheel while hitting the brake causing the car to skid sidewise into the van.

"Augh!" Woolf cried as the cars collided.

"Thanks a lot Michael," Penny said as she returned the skateboard to the boy she had taken it from. "Told you I'd return it," she said as she jogged back to her bike.

"Whoa," Michael gasped as Penny got on her bicycle and pedaled away. He was going to have to seriously rethink the way he perceived girls.

"I better call Brain," Penny decided as she rode down the street. "It looks like I need more protection than Uncle Gadget!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at police headquarters, Inspector Gadget was fighting a losing battle with boredom. Sitting behind a desk in what basically amounted to a cubicle farm without cubicles was monotonous. He was a man of action! There would be plenty of time to rust from disuse later. "Hey there Chief," Gadget chirped as Chief Quimby was walked by with a stack of papers. "Anything going on today?"<p>

"No leads about MAD if that's what you mean," he admitted, "but we got a purse snatching case. It's pretty minor, but it will keep you busy."

"Don't worry about it, Chief," Gadget smiled. "I'm going out of my mind. As long as I'm chained to this desk, I might as well work on my art skills. I used to be a decent police sketch artist you know."

"Then this shouldn't be any problem," Quimby nodded. "I'll have the victim sent over to you," he added as he walked away through the crowded maze of desks.

Soon a distraught woman was sitting on the other side of Inspector Gadget's desk. "He was about six feet," she stammered. "Skinny guy. He had a long nose like yours but thinner. He had dark close set eyes and chin like Jay Leno. He was in his thirties maybe. High cheekbones. With a mole on his left cheek.

"Alright," Gadget stuck his tongue out as he sketched away. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and his raincoat was draped on a hat rack that was standing in the aisle. He had attempted to use the pen concealed in his middle finger but after it leaked ink all over his desk he decided just to use a pencil. He was going to have to get his gadgets checked out sometime. Still, he was doing a great job in his opinion. The next time a supercomputer replaced him, he could always get a job as a professional artist! "Skinny guy, long thin nose, high cheekbones. In his thirties. Prominent chin. Mole on left cheek. Got it." He looked up from the pad of paper he was drawing on his voice assumed a smug arrogant tone. "It _this_ the man who took your purse?"

"Wha-what is this?" the woman gasped in disbelief. Gadget had drawn a strange geometric arrangement of lines and squares!

"It's the man who took your purse isn't it?" Gadget asked her. "Look closely now. Is _this_ the man you struggled with this morning? Do I need to make any changes?"

"It's just a bunch of squares and lines!" the woman protested.

"That's because I drew it using the abstract technique known as cubism, first pioneered by the world famous artist Pablo Picasso," Gadget explained. "I was getting bored with realism so I thought I'd mix it up. Look closely madam; is this the man who took your purse?"

"If you won't take my complaint seriously, I'm leaving!" the woman growled as she picked up her coat and stormed away from Gadget's desk.

Inspector Gadget looked at his masterpiece and scratched his head. Before long Chief Quimby approached Gadget's desk with a look of concern. "That woman is filing a complaint against you! What happened, Gadget?"

"I don't know, Chief," Gadget shrugged as he handed his sketch to his superior. "Y'know it's the darndest thing. I showed her the sketch and…"

"Good Heavens!" Quimby's eyes bulged out when he saw the sketch. "I recognize this guy! We had him in here on a possession charge earlier this morning! I'll put out a bulletin!"

"Wowsers! You're right Chief!" Gadget gasped as he gave his sketch a second take. "I almost ran over him in the parking lot!"

"Don't worry Gadget, we should have him picked up in an hour or so," Quimby assured him.

"In that case chief, can I investigate _something_ to get me out of the stationhouse?" Gadget begged. "If you don't have anything for me, can I go home early and pick up Penny? We're going over to my mother's later today. Today's her birthday, you know."

Chief Quimby sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm going to regret this but we just got a report at the grammar school of some pervert in a raincoat trying to snatch a little girl at your niece's school. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Spats on shoes will never come back?" Gadget offered.

"No," the chief rolled his eyes. "Yesterday someone tried to kill you at the bowling alley. And now we get a report of a creep trying to snatch a little girl at your niece's school. I'm probably jumping to conclusions but _you_ do the math! What do you think it looks like?"

"Sorry Chief, I was never good at math," Gadget smiled as he got up from his desk. "I was always more of an art major kind of guy. So I'm supposed to be on the lookout for some creep in a raincoat eh?" he asked as he put on his raincoat. "Don't worry Chief, I'm always on duty!" He straightened his tie and his hat before he walked out of the room.

As Gadget walked out he passed a short orange woman in a police uniform that was organizing a file cabinet. Two earphones and a speaker came out of the dog collar 'she' wore around her neck. "Brain," Penny's voice hissed from the earphones. "A group of MAD agents tried to jump me at the school. I don't know what's going on but I think it's time to circle the wagons! See if you can get Uncle Gadget home and I'll meet you there!"

"Woof!" the dog saluted as Quimby brushed past him.

The pipe smoking police chief caught up with Gadget on the front steps to the police station. "Gadget!" Quimby called. "I just realized something! Yesterday someone tried to blow you up by planting a bomb in the bowling alley!"

"Uh, yeah Chief, I know," Gadget said as diplomatically as he could. "I was there y'know…"

"No, I just realized," Quimby shook his head. "What if someone tries to break into your house?"

"Wowzers! You're right, Chief!" Gadget gasped. "I never thought of that! They could plant a bomb, kidnap Penny or just be lying in wait for me when I got home!"

"You better activate the security field," the chief said.

"Right you are Chief!" Gadget pulled a remote control device out of his pocket. "We don't want to take any chances so I'll set it up to eleven! No one will be able to get close to the house unless I give the emergency failsafe code!"

"What _is_ the emergency failsafe code in case you forget?" Quimby asked him.

"'Open Sesame'," Gadget shrugged. "What else? The house has voice recognition software but even if they had a machine that could fake my voice they'd still have to know the emergency failsafe code!" He tapped the side of his head. "And it's all up here! It's… uh… it's…"

"Open Sesame," Quimby rolled his eyes.

"Open Sesame?" Gadget blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Quimby sighed. "Think you can remember it?"

"I guess so Chief, but it sure seems a funny password to get into someplace," Gadget scratched behind his ear. "I'll go check up on that disturbance at the school. See you around Chief."

Quimby sighed and shook his head.

* * *

><p>Penny pedaled home as quickly as she could. "Home sweet home," she sighed in relief as she pulled into the driveway. "I'll activate the security system as soon as I get in. After that I should be safe enough to stop and plan my next move… Huh?"<p>

Gloved hands on the ends of unfolding, telescoping metal rods emerged from the lawn to pick her up by her backpack and roll her into the street. Another pair mechanical hand used an old fashioned seltzer bottle to spray water at her.

"What's going on here?" Penny retreated across the street and wiped the water out of her face. "Somebody activated the security system. It must have been Uncle Gadget! But why doesn't the security system recognize me?"

"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers!" she shouted as she braved her way back across the street. When mechanical hands emerged from the lawn carrying electric fans, the girl was blown tumbling backwards back across the street. "Oh no!" the girl squeaked. "He must have changed the password! I can't get in! I can't even get back to my bike!"

A telescoping arm stretched out across the street and handed her the basket of goodies she had prepared for her grandmother the night before. "At least I won't starve," Penny grumbled. "That's right; I was supposed to go to grandma's house after school today," she said as she snapped her fingers. "Oh well, it looks like I'm walking. I hope I don't run into those guys on the way there!"

_Next: Home Insecurity_


	4. Home Insecurity

**Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood**

_Inspector Gadget and all related characters and setting are owned by __**Cookie Jar Entertainment**__. DiC remains an in-credit name only. _

_Chapter Four: Home Insecurity_

Inspector Gadget arrived at the school and parked his car. "Hm, maybe a minivan would be less conspicuous," he decided when he got out and examined the Gadgetmobile. It was a sleek sports car painted blue and white with the word 'POLICE' stenciled in large capital letters. He extended his hand and his arm stretched out of his sleeve to reveal it was a telescoping metal tube. His gloved hand reached out and pulled the gear lever. The car shifted and folded on itself as it changed into a red and white minivan. Brain's face appeared in the window as he rolled his eyes and watched Gadget enter the school.

"I am Inspector Gadget of the Metro City Police Department," he told the secretary as a gloved hand extended out of the crown of his hat on a skinny metal arm. A box in the mechanical hand opened to reveal his badge before badge, box, and hand disappeared into his hat again. "I understand that there was a disturbance here earlier today."

"Why yes," said the secretary. "Some teachers saw the whole thing! Some creep in a raincoat tried to snatch one of our students at the bike rack."

"Some creep in a raincoat eh?" Gadget said as he put his hands in his coat pockets. "Not to worry with Inspector Gadget on the case. No weirdo in a raincoat is going to come anywhere near your little kids while I'm around! That reminds me, did any students see what happened? I'd like to question them."

Soon Gadget was outside at the scene of the crime. "So he tried to push her into a van did he?" he said as he pulled a tiny paper notepad out of his pocket. "And when she got away he and his buddies chased her around the town square and tried to squish her with their car eh? Okay, what did he look like? Go-go Gadget Pen." An old fashioned quill head came out of his middle finger. When it failed to write on his notepad, he examined it closely. Ink squirted out and he wiped the ink off his face before pulling a pencil out of his pocket. "Okay, describe the individual."

"He was about your height with black hair, large jug ears, beady black eyes… He had a long nose…" the teacher said. "He wore a grey raincoat and a fedora." The teacher stopped and frowned at Gadget suspiciously.

"Did he look anything like this?" Gadget showed him his drawing.

"Yes, that's him. Exactly like that," the teacher said dryly.

Gadget looked at his drawing. The sketch looked exactly like him. "An ugly character if I ever saw one," he sneered. "There's something familiar about this guy. I must have seen his face on a mug shot somewhere." The sad fact was that Inspector Gadget seldom looked at mirrors. With a face like his, the experience was never rewarding.

* * *

><p>Wearing her red rain cape and carrying her basket of cookies, Penny walked down the street until she got to the bus stop. "I don't want to take public transportation but without my bicycle there aren't a lot of options," she sighed as she tried to find a dry place on the bench. "Grandma lives on the other side of town."<p>

She was saved by the arrival of the midtown bus. "Thank goodness," she sighed. "Since it's rained recently everything's wet." She stepped aboard the bus and paid the fare, then looked for a place to sit. The bus wasn't very full and she found a place near the driver so she could keep an eye on anyone who entered.

It was a good thing too because on the very next stop a slender sinister man came onboard who looked familiar. He was one of the men who had chased her at the town square earlier. His eyes widened in recognition as he paid his fare and stepped onboard, but he didn't say anything and took a seat at the back of the bus where Penny couldn't watch him without making it obvious. She looked behind her anyway to see the man talking on a cell phone. No! It wasn't a cell phone; it was a walkie-talkie that had the stylized catface logo of MAD on the front of it!

"That man must be a MAD agent," Penny decided. "They're looking for me and he must be tipping off the search party! I've got to get off this bus, but where?" She looked out the window and saw the Metro City shopping mall. "Perfect!" she said. "There's lots of people there and I can contact mall security. They'll have to be careful if they don't want to cause a scene! Maybe I can lose my tail if… uh-oh!"

The bus pulled up to the bus stop in front of the mall, but a trio of MAD agents were there waiting! She recognized them the chase at the town square. There was a large hulking man with a broken nose who had driven the van. The short bald man with a long nose had been in the front seat of the car that chased her. And with them was man who had actually grabbed her, the man in the fedora and raincoat who looked like Uncle Gadget's long lost brother. When they boarded the bus they would surround her!

Thinking quickly, she pushed some buttons on her watch. Penny's watch was a tiny television screen with three buttons on it, reminiscent of the digital watch craze of the 1980's. It was created by Penny's mother, the late Doctor Sylvia Dollar who was an electronic and computer expert. Sneaking a glance behind her, she stood up, pulled her backpack over her shoulder, put her arm through the basket of goodies' handle and kept her hand on her watch. Ignoring the driver's warning to stay seated, she moved to the rear exit as the thug rose to intercept her. As they both reached the side doors that were placed halfway to the back of the vehicle, Penny hit a button on her watch. A beam of light shot out and hit the MAD agent's shoe, causing it to smolder.

"Yeow!" the MAD agent fell over as he held his smoking foot. Penny forced the bus' rear doors open as Woolf and his cronies entered the bus by the front entrance. Without bothering to look behind her she ran to the doors of the mall.

* * *

><p>In the meantime, Inspector Gadget was heading home in the Gadgetvan. The sound of a telephone came from his hand so he pulled over and answered it by pulling an antenna out of this thumb. "Wowsers, it's the top secret Gadget-phone! Is that you chief? I'm driving home right now. That's right, I'm in the Gadgetvan. Okay I'll put you on the screen." He pushed the antenna back into his thumb and turned a knob on his dashboard. A television screen on his dashboard came to life and Chief Quimby's image was displayed.<p>

"Gadget, this is a minor matter but we didn't quite get your sketch of the man who tried to snatch a kid at the school," Chief Quimby said.

"I don't understand it Chief," Gadget scratched the side of his head. "I took a picture of it and sent it over to you with the fax machine in the Gadgetvan."

"Well, maybe you need to send another picture," Quimby said. The image of Quimby disappeared to be replaced by a picture of Inspector Gadget's gloved thumb blocking most of the image. Quimby's face reappeared with and raised a knowing eyebrow.

"I see what you mean Chief, I'm a better sketch artist than a photographer," Gadget admitted. "I'll fax you a new picture as soon as I get home. I've got to pick up Penny and take her to my mother's house. Won't be a minute."

"We'll be waiting," Quimby's face nodded before vanishing from the screen.

Gadget pulled up to his house and got out, only to be seized by a pair of mechanical arms that threw him across the street. A spring popped out the crown of his hat as he bounced off the street. His feet disconnected from his ankles to reveal that they were held to his body by two more springs and acted as shock absorbers when he ended up on the neighbor's lawn across the street. It could truly be said that Inspector Gadget had a spring in his step.

"Wowsers, what's going on?" Gadget asked himself. "I can't get in! Penny! Turn off the security field!" he shouted as he waved his arms. "Penny! It's me! Uncle Gadget! Turn off the security system, will you? We've got to go to your grandma's house! Can you hear me? No problem. I'll just call her." The crown of his hat opened and a gloved hand on the end of an unfolding mechanical arm handed him a pink telephone handset. "Come on, Penny, pick up! We're going to be late! Your grandmother will worry!"

Phones rung all over the house, but nobody answered. In the meantime, Brain crawled out of the back of the Gadgetvan into the front seat and backed the van off the driveway and onto the sidewalk so Gadget could get back into the van if he had to. The dog then left the van and crossed the street to get to his master's side.

"Brain!" Gadget said. "How did you get in the van? Were you stuck in there the whole time boy? You should have said something! Is Penny home?"

Brain made growling sounds and shook his head.

"Not home, eh?" Gadget said. "She must have gone to her grandmother's house. That's right; we were supposed to meet there. Silly me, I just plumb forgot!"

Brain pointed across the street to where Penny's bicycle was half on the driveway, half on the lawn.

"What is it boy?" Gadget asked. "Do you see a cat?"

Brain whined and continued pointing at the Penny's bike.

"Some child left their bike on the driveway," Gadget decided. "Well, they'll have a hard time getting it back with the security system going. I better turn it off." He crossed the street and headed for the front door. "Peter Piper picked a pick of peckled peppers… Yow!" he cried as he tumbled back across the street. "Er maybe I should get that password changed. Not to worry. Go-go-Gadget-arm." His right hand extended out of his sleeve on the end of a telescoping metal tube. "Go-go-Gadget-skeleton key!" One of this fingers opened to reveal a the teeth of a key. "If I can just get the door open, I can switch off the system manually. I…"

His voice trailed off when a hidden panel in the wall opened and a gloved hand on the end of a telescoping tube extended out back at him. If he didn't see his hand trying to pick the lock on the door he would have mistaken it for his arm. The house's mechanical hand held a pair of tongs that held a large M-80 firecracker. The fuse was lit and the mechanical arm was holding it dangerously close to Inspector Gadget's face!

"Wowsers!"

POW!

Inspector Gadget staggered backwards, his ears ringing and his face blackened by the explosion. The mechanical arm retracted to vanish into the wall of the house and Gadget's own arm slid back into his sleeve as he tumbled onto the neighbor's lawn. Gadget shook his head to clear it before standing up and brushing himself off.

"Don't worry about it, Brain," he said as a gloved hand carrying a tiny whisk broom emerged from the crown of his gray fedora to brush him off. "I may be a little deaf but I'm not hurt."

He crossed the street and opened the door to the van. "Get in Brain," he whistled as the dog leaped into the van to sit at the passenger seat. "We don't want to be late. We'll shut off the system when we get back." He looked back at his house a put gloved hand to his chin. "What idiot turned on the security field?"

Brain gave a curt bark.

"Oh yeah! It was me!" Gadget laughed. "We'll deal with it when we get home. Whoever owns that bike can pick it up tomorrow. In the meantime let's get over to my mother's house! It's not like we can just say 'open sesame' or something."

Inside the house a computerized voice spoke. "Open Sesame. Security Field deactivated. It is now safe to enter the house."

"That reminds me!" Gadget snapped his fingers. "I better take a picture of my sketch and fax it to headquarters before I forget!"

* * *

><p>In the Metro City Mall Penny was trying to make herself scarce. Unfortunately thanks to the rainy weather, there weren't that many people shopping today. "What do I do?" she asked herself. "I wanted to lose myself in the crowd and there isn't enough crowd to lose myself in! If only I could contact Uncle Gadget!" She looked down at her basket of goodies and noticed her watch. "My watch! Of course! It has a communicator installed in it! I never call Uncle Gadget when he's on a case because I don't want to let him know I came along, but there's nothing wrong with calling him right now!" She set her basket on the floor and pushed a button on her watch. "Calling Uncle Gadget! Come in, Uncle Gadget! Oh he's just got to pick up!"<p>

* * *

><p>Gadget was driving the Gadgetvan down the street when he heard a telephone ringing. "Wowsers, is that the top-secret Gadgetphone?" he asked. "Go-go Gadget-hand!" The crown of his gray fedora opened and a yellow glove on the end of a pencil thin unfolding mechanical arm spooled out and seized the steering wheel. Gadget then pulled a short antenna out of his thumb with his teeth. "Hello? Is that you chief?" The ringing sound persisted. "Wrong telephone eh?" he muttered as he pressed his thumb against his face to slide the little antenna back in. "Maybe it's the van," he pressed a button on the dashboard and a mechanical hand similar to the one in his hat came out of the dash and held a telephone handset up to his face. "Hello? This is Inspector Gadget." The ringing sound continued. "Nope, that's not it," he said as the handset disappeared back to where it came from. "Maybe it's this one," he muttered as he ducked under dashboard.<p>

Brain gave a frightened bark as the van veered onto the sidewalk. Terrified pedestrians jumped and dodged out of the way. When Gadget emerged from under the dashboard holding his shoe, the van veered back into the street, forcing another car to swerve into oncoming traffic. As the van travelled merrily down the street, screeching tires and breaking glass could be heard. Brain whined as he glanced behind him with a pained expression on his face.

Gadget had emerged from below holding his shoe. He steered with one hand as he held the shoe with his other hand while the hand that emerged from his hat removed the sole to reveal and old fashioned rotary dial microphone and speaker. "Hello?" Gadget asked as he tried to focus on driving. The ringing sound just kept on going. "Wrong again!" he grumbled as he slid the sole back on the shoe put it back on his foot. "Go-go Gadget telephone!" The mechanical hand disappeared back in his hat and reemerged holding a pink telephone handset. "Hello! This is getting ridiculous!"

"Woof!" Brain barked.

"I know, I didn't want to try the phone in the raincoat," he muttered as the yellow-gloved hand and the pink phone went back into his hat. "If I could only remember which button was the speaker and which button was the microphone. I'm pretty sure the lower right one hides the dial. I think it's _this_ one…" he said as he pulled on one of the large round buttons on his coat. It was connected to a wire that kept him from pulling it right off. Unfortunately when he pulled on that button his coat began to inflate like a balloon.

Brain barked in alarm, but it was too late.

"Wasn't that one," he said as he fumbled with his buttons with both hands. Unbidden the yellow-gloved hand from his hat emerged and seized the steering wheel as his body strained against his seat belt. Brain was flattened up against the door as Gadget's head was pushed out the sunroof. Somehow, Gadget managed to find two of his coat buttons that were attached to his raincoat by telephone cords and hold them up to his face, one at his mouth and one at his ear. "Hello!" he shouted as his van ran a red light. "This is Inspector Gadget!"

Back in the mall, Penny was hidden behind a rack of women's clothes. "Uncle Gadget! This is Penny!" she whispered as she looked around for her pursuers. "I'm at the Metro City Mall in Sophie's Department Store! I'm being followed! How soon can you get down here?"

"I'm sorry Penny; you'll have to speak up!" Gadget shouted as his van swerved off the road and into a city park. "With the wind blowing I can barely hear you!"

"I said I'm at the Metro City Mall in the women's department at Sophie's!" Penny repeated before she peered at the image on the tiny television screen on her watch. "Uncle Gadget what's happening?"

"I'm just taking a little shortcut!" he said as the yellow gloved hand from his hat searched his coat for the button that would make it deflate. "What are you doing at the mall? You're supposed to be at your grandmother's!"

"There are men following me and I'm trying to lose them!" Penny explained. "They look like MAD agents and I think they're trying to kidnap me!"

"You're probably being paranoid!" he said as the van frightened a flock of pigeons that flew off the ground and blinded him. "But after what happened at your school I don't blame you. Did you know that some creep in a raincoat tried to snatch a little girl at the bike rack?"

"Uh… yeah Uncle Gadget," Penny muttered. "That was me. I kicked him in the face and barely escaped! He's still here and he's after me!"

"Sorry Penny, I didn't get that!" Gadget's voice shouted. "The Gadgetvan just went into the duck pond! Stay at the mall and I'll come pick you up! In the meantime, if you think you're being followed, stay with mall security and I'll be right there!"

"Roger Uncle Gadget," Penny nodded. "See you soon!"

When Penny switched off her communicator, the clothes she was hiding behind were pushed aside. There was one of the MAD agents who boarded the bus looking for her. "Hey Woolf!" he called. "I found her!"

_Next: Mall Rats_


	5. Mall Rats

**Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood**

_Inspector Gadget and all related characters and setting are owned by __**Cookie Jar Entertainment**__. DiC remains an in-credit name only. _

_Chapter Five: Mall Rats_

Penny tried to dash past the MAD agent, but he grabbed her red rain cape. Without hesitating, she stomped on the man's foot and he let go. Penny ducked under clothing displays, rolled over to an aisle sprung to her feet and ran away.

"What is this gal, a soccer player?" the MAD agent complained.

"Doesn't matter what she is!" Woolf snapped as he pointed in her direction. "Don't let her get away!"

Thinking quickly, Penny pulled the handkerchief off her picnic basket and pressed it to her mouth and nose. She then led her pursuers into the perfume aisle.

Women of various ages where spraying perfume on their wrists and sniffing. The perfume aisle was filled with overpowering chemical fumes and conflicting aromas that could qualify as a weak tear gas.

Woolf and his crony dashed into the perfume aisle and were breathing heavily. Big mistake. They gagged on the overpowering smell of odoriferous compounds from both natural extracts and manufactured chemicals. Woolf felt lightheaded. "Do you see her?" he gagged as a woman next to him sprayed perfume into the air.

"No," his flunky wheezed as another woman worked the ball on a perfume bottle. "I can't breathe!"

"Me neither!" Woolf coughed. "Let's get outta here!"

* * *

><p>Outside, the Gadgetvan drove through the park towards the mall. "Go-go Gadgetmoblie!" Inspector Gadget said as he shifted gears. The van seemed to fold in on itself as it changed into a sports car with a police patrol car paint job. "Go-go Gadget tires," Gadget said as he pushed a button on the dashboard. The Gadgmobile's wheels extended out of the car to reveal they were on the ends of telescoping metal legs. The car gingerly stepped over the fence separating the park from the mall's parking lot like it was a giraffe.<p>

Gadget smiled in triumph as the car stepped into a parking spot. "There we go Brain," he said to the orange dog trembling in the passenger seat. "For once the Gadgetmobile worked perfectly! I was afraid that one of the car's legs would malfunction or something." He opened the door and stepped out… and fell almost fifteen feet to the pavement.

Brain groaned and hit a button on the dashboard with his paw. The telescoping legs folded back into the car and lowered the Gadgetmobile safely to the ground.

* * *

><p>In the mall, Penny found a counter with a security guard setting behind it. "At last!" she sighed. "Mall security! They can protect me until Uncle Gadget gets here!" She walked over to the counter. "Excuse me, but strange men have been following me ever since I left school. Could I stay with you until my Uncle Gadget arrives?"<p>

"Sounds serious," the mall cop said. "Do you want me to call the police?"

"That shouldn't be necessary," Penny assured him. "My Uncle is an inspector with the police department. I can give him a full report when he gets here."

"Okay," he said as he picked up the radio that was dangling around his shoulders. "I'll call the guys and let 'em know to keep their eyes open."

* * *

><p>In the meantime, under the mall was a room with a bank of television monitors on the wall. Bored security guards were taking turns not watching the screens.<p>

A short bald man in a security uniform walked into the room. He looked exactly like one of the men who were in the car that nearly ran Penny over at the school earlier that day. "I'm uh… new," he said uneasily. "What's goin' down?"

A guard with curly hair and a mustache handed a sheet of fax paper to the little infiltrator. "Hey did you hear?" he said to the disguised MAD agent. "There's some guy in a hat and raincoat who tried to snatch a little girl at the school. The cops put an APD on him. Here's the description."

The MAD agent paled when he saw Gadget's drawing of Woolf staring back up at him. "I… uh… gotta go to the bathroom," he stammered.

"Third door on your right," one of the guards said.

The disguised MAD agent kept going until he was back in Sophie's department store talking to Woolf. "You better make yourself scarce boss," he said. "They got a description of you. Maybe you better lie low."

Woolf frowned at the picture. "Okay… It's Gadget!" he yelped as he looked over his henchman's shoulder. "He just walked in! Get rid of him!" He moved behind a full length mirror to get out of sight.

Inspector Gadget walked up to the MAD agent pretending to be mall security. "Excuse me my good man, I'm looking for my niece," he said. "She was supposed to meet me at the mall and I told her to stay with mall security." At that moment Brain dashed by, running on all fours. "Brain!" Gadget shouted. "I thought I told you to stay in the car!"

"We better go chase him," the MAD agent offered, trying to lure him away from Woolf's hiding place.

"No need for that my good man. I've got this covered," Gadget smirked. "Go-go Gadget lasso!"

The crown of Gadget's fedora opened and a gloved hand holding a wooden mallet emerged on the end of a spindly metal arm. Gadget staggered under the shift in weight as the mallet swung dangerously around, hitting the MAD agent in the head and shattering the full length mirror Woolf was hiding behind. Woolf was crouching and holding his hands before his eyes, unaware that he had been exposed.

"No lasso, eh?" Gadget said as the hand with the mallet disappeared into his hat. "That's okay. Brain needs the exercise. As I was saying… eh?" He looked down to see that the MAD agent disguised as the mall guard was lying down on the floor with a huge bruise on his head. "Lying down on the job, eh? That's the problem with private security. They'll hire anybody these days… huh?"

He turned to see Woolf crouching behind the empty frame of the shattered mirror. Woolf stood up straight and stared back at Gadget. Gadget frowned and put his right hand to his chin. Woolf did the same, and used his left hand. Both of them straightened their hats and scratched the side of their heads at the same time. They leaned forward, put a finger to one eye and pulled the lower eyelid down a little. Then they stood up straight and shook their heads at each other.

"Let's face it; I look terrible," Gadget muttered. "I'm a disgrace to the police department for leaving the house looking like this!"

Woolf sputtered and frowned at that remark before his eyes bulged in fear.

"What?" Gadget shook his head and rubbed his eyes. When he looked at the mirror again he had no reflection. Woolf was gone.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Penny had removed her red hooded rain cape and set down her basket of goodies while she waited at the security station. A large fat woman walked up to the security guard while wearing a hat with a veil. "Excuse me sir," the large woman said in a strange strangled voice. "Can you help me?"<p>

"Sure ma'am," the guard said. "Yeow!" he cried before he fell to the floor. The woman was holding a dark plastic device with two metal studs.

"A stun gun!" Penny cried as she jumped off her stool.

"Where d'yuh think you're goin'?" the 'woman' snarled in a deep masculine voice. He seized her with a gloved hand before abruptly letting her go again. "Yow!" He looked down to see an orange dog with a red collar sinking his teeth into his leg.

"Brain!" Penny cried. "Look out! He's got a stun gun! Let's go!"

Brain whined as the man took a swipe at him with the stun gun. Pretty soon both he and Penny were running through the mall.

"Hey! Come back here you!" the MAD agent disguised as a woman growled, but it was no use. He just couldn't run in those heels.

* * *

><p>At that moment, Inspector Gadget was walking through the mall looking for his niece. "Excuse me?" he said as he tapped a security guard on the shoulder. "I wonder if you can help me? I'm looking for a little girl. She's ten years old, with blonde ponytails, and wearing a red rain cape."<p>

"I recognize you from the police sketch," the security guard scowled at him. "Come with me. We need to talk to the police!"

"The police!" Gadget gasped. "What happened? Is she hurt?"

* * *

><p>Outside Penny and Brain were running for the bus stop. Woolf and two other MAD agents were following them. They boarded the bus just in time. The doors closed and the bus drove off just as the MAD agents reached it.<p>

"Hey," said the bus driver. "No pets."

Brain handed Penny a pair of sunglasses and a folding white rod of some kind.

"I'm uh… blind," Penny said as she put on the sunglasses. She unfolded the rod to reveal that it was a white cane with a red tip. "He's my seeing eye dog. I have a bus pass."

"Okay," said the driver. "I'm late anyway."

* * *

><p>In the meantime, Inspector Gadget was in the security room. "Take off the raincoat," a security guard growled.<p>

"Whoops," Gadget pulled the wrong button and his coat started to inflate like a huge balloon. Fortunately he was near the door and his head made it out while the rest of the room was filled with giant inflatable raincoat. "Can any of you guys reach my third button?" he shouted. The muffled replies were unintelligible. "Never mind!" he called out. "I didn't want to do this," he muttered. "Go-go Gadget pin." The crown of his hat opened and a yellow glove emerged holding a long archaic sewing pin. "This… is gonna hurt," he muttered as the glove extended out of his hat on an unfolding metal arm. He closed his eyes as the needle closed on his balloonlike raincoat.

A burst of air pushed Gadget into the security room before the springs in his legs propelled him back out of the room and out into the hall. He staggered to his feet and stretched before dusting himself off. The sound of a telephone ringing startled him. "Wowzers!" His face fell. "Oh no," he sighed in defeat. The crown of his hat opened and a mechanical gloved hand came out holding a pink telephone handset. "Hello?" he said. The ringing sound continued. "Not that one, eh?" he said as the telephone disappeared back into his hat. "I should really get a cell phone."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile on the bus, Penny and Brain were looking at her wristwatch. "What is taking Uncle Gadget so long to pick up?" Penny grumbled.<p>

Brain made some barking sounds and gestured.

"You're right," the girl nodded. "Uncle Gadget might have run into trouble. Go back to the mall and bring him to Grandma's house. Then we can put our heads together and figure out what to do next. You can get off at the next stop. Good luck Brain!" They shared a hug as the bus came to a stop, then the dog left and ran back towards the mall. As the bus started up again Penny muttered to herself. "Why are those guys after me?"

* * *

><p>In the meantime Inspector Gadget was speaking into the pink telephone being held by the yellow glove on the end of a metal arm that looked like it was built from slender pipes that emerged from his hat. "Hello?" he asked. "Hm, they must have hung up. I hope they left a messege."<p>

"Well your ID checks out, the curly haired guard with the moustache said as he handed Gadget his badge and driver's license back. "I've contact your chief and he'd like to talk to you," he added as he handed Gadget a telephone.

"Thank you," Gadget said as the yellow glove and phone disappeared into his hat. "Is that you Chief?"

"Gadget did you send us a picture of yourself?" Quimby's voice asked.

"A picture of myself?" Gadget repeated. "Chief what are you talking about?"

"The sketch you sent us looks exactly like you," Quimby told him.

"Looks exactly like me?" Gadget asked. "How can you say that? Are you sure?"

"Positive, I'm looking at it right now," Quimby said. "Gadget, read the description of the man who tried to abduct a girl at the school."

"Why certainly Chief," Gadget said as a yellow glove holding a small pad of stationary emerged from his hat. "Let's see," he said as he put his forefinger on the description. "About five foot eight, greasy black hair, beady bloodshot eyes, jug ears, a long bulbous nose and wearing a grey fedora and a matching raincoat."

"Gadget, you just described yourself," Quimby's voice protested over the phone.

"Honestly Chief, that's the description. I showed the picture to the teacher and he said it was him. That's what the perpetrator looked like," Gadget then blinked and frowned in realization. "Wait a second, jug ears? I don't have jug ears do I Chief? And my eyes aren't bloodshot, I just need more sleep! Honestly Chief? Jug ears?" He gingerly felt his ear with his other hand.

"Either your witness is playing a trick on you or Doctor Claw has hired a lookalike," Quimby decided. "He could be trying to lure you out in the open. I don't like it. You're going into hiding, Gadget."

"Not right now I'm not," Gadget frowned. "I still haven't found Penny and today's my mother's birthday. When it comes to family I'm always on duty!"

"Fine, be that way," Quimby growled over the phone. "There's no point calling you back since I know you won't come. You just be careful out there Gadget. Don't do anything stupid. If Doctor Claw gets a hold of Penny he'll use her to lure you into a trap. You'll be a target and be in constant danger!"

"And… loving it!" Gadget crowed into the telephone. "Bye-bye Chief!" He hung up the phone and handed back to guard with the moustache. "Okay fellas, now that you know that I'm legit, I'd like to see my niece. She told me to meet her here."

"Sorry about the misunderstanding," the lead security guard apologized.

"Think nothing of it," Gadget shrugged. "You were only doing your job. Private security is a necessary service and I commend you. Now where is my niece?"

"We uh, don't know," the guard blushed.

"What? You don't know?" Gadget growled as he rose to his feet. "Why the devil does the mall pay you dumb rent-a-cops anyway? You're not even real police, you're just private citizens! Those aren't uniforms, those are costumes! You're lucky I don't take you all in for interfering with a police officer on duty! I bid you good day gentlemen, but only as a matter of form." With that he turned on his heel and stormed out. "The nerve of those guys," he grumbled as he walked by indoor stores. "Now how am I going to find Penny?" He stopped when he noticed a man staring at him. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm sorry sir," the man blushed. "Did you know that your cufflink is blinking?"

"Oh." Now it was Gadget's turn to blush. "Thank you my good man. Looks like I better check my messages. Go-go Gadgetphone." Before the astonished man's eyes the crown of his hat opened and a gloved hand holding a pink telephone cradle came out and set itself at the inspector's ear and chin. With his left forefinger, Gadget poked at the palm of his right hand and was rewarded with electronic pinging sounds. He listened for a while and then exclaimed. "It's Penny! She's left the mall and is on her way to her Grandma's house! I better get over there!"

"Who's Penny?" asked the man who was staring at Gadget like he was an animal at the zoo.

"Never _you_ mind!" Gadget snorted as he walked away. He went out to the parking lot and stopped to look around when he got to the Gadgetvan. "Now where is that dog anyway? Brain!" he called. "Brain! Where are you boy?" A barking sound drew his attention to the view of Brain running at full gallop across the parking lot.  
>"Brain!" Gadget scolded affectionately as he opened the door on the passenger side. "Where have you been? Did you see a cat? Well get back in the van. Penny should be at my mother's house and we should meet her there. Let's go."<p>

Brain barked and hopped in before looking around and sniffing the air. He glanced over at Gadget who was changing into a new raincoat and watched him accidentally inflate as he pulled the wrong button. The dog whined in concern. This was too easy! In Brain's experience it was always more complicated when it came to getting Gadget to go where Penny directed. He wondered when the other shoe would drop_. _

_Next: Grandma's House_


	6. Grandma's House

**Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood**

_Inspector Gadget and all related characters and setting are owned by __**Cookie Jar Entertainment**__. DiC remains an in-credit name only. _

_Chapter Six: Grandma's House_

Penny breathed a sigh of relief as she walked up to the porch of the quaint two story house in the suburbs. She was still wearing her red rain cape and carrying the basket of cookies. "Thank goodness, I can't believe I made it!" she exclaimed. "Maybe we can still celebrate grandma's birthday. Once I get inside, I'll call Chief Quimby. There's no need to worry. How hard can it be to get a protection detail for a police inspector's family?"

Penny rang the doorbell and waited. No answer. "I wonder what's taking so long? I hope she just stepped out. I'll use my key to let myself in," the little girl muttered to herself as she searched for her keys.

"Hello? Grandma? It's me, Penny," she called as entered and locked the door. "Are you home? We're supposed to take you out to dinner today."

No answer. Penny set down the basket of cookies on a coffee table and listened. What was that? Some kind of muffled noise? Had her grandma hurt herself? Tiptoeing carefully, Penny made her way to the bedroom. Her grandmother was lying in bed, but the covers were up over her face and she was thrashing about unnaturally. "Grandma?" Penny pulled the covers back to reveal a long homely face that looked like her Uncle Gadget wearing a white wig. It was Grandma Gadget alright, but she had a white piece of tape over her mouth and was fully dressed!

Penny gasped and pulled back the blankets to reveal the clothesline binding her grandmother's limbs to her sides. "Wowsers! Grandma! What happened?" Just when Penny started to pull the tape off her grandmother's mouth gloved hands seized her, pulling the girl off her feet and covering her mouth.

"Gotcha!" Woolf crowed as he worked his arm around Penny's waist to carry her out of the room. "You got spunk little girl, but we knew you'd go to a relative's house sooner or later and the old lady was the only other Gadget in the phone book!"

"Woolf!" a short tubby bald MAD agent wearing a cloth cap and a yellow turtleneck sweater gasped as he met him in the hall.

"What is it, Lupo?" Woolf asked as he struggled with the squirming Penny.

"It's Gadget!" Lupo indicated the front door with his thumb. "He just pulled up and he's coming this way. What do we do?"

"Why are you asking me for?" Woolf snapped. "Wait a second. Put the old lady and the little girl in the cellar. I got an idea!"

* * *

><p>Outside Inspector Gadget rang the doorbell. "Mom, it's me!" he called. No answer. He rang the doorbell again. "Mom! Are you ready? Is Penny there? Hm," Gadget stroked his chin. "She must have fallen asleep. I'll just let myself in. Go-go Gadget Skeleton key." The crown of his hat opened and out sprang a small red parachute. "No, Gadget Skeleton key! Could've been worse I guess," he sighed.<p>

* * *

><p>Since Gadget's vision was obscured by the red parachute draped over his body, he didn't see the MAD agents peeking at him through the windows.<p>

"What's he doing?" asked Lupo, the short chubby bald agent.

"Quiet," hissed a slender fair-haired man approximately Gadget's height. "You don't want him to hear us."

* * *

><p>In the meantime a large hulking MAD agent carried Penny and her grandmother to the basement. "Now stay there, and don't cause any trouble," he said to the old lady and the bound and gagged Penny.<p>

As soon as he left Penny squirmed and rolled around on the ground. She wriggled over to the hot water heater and caught her gag on the valve, pulling it off her mouth. "Don't worry about a thing grandma," she whispered. "I've been tied up so many times I know how to get loose!"

Even tied up with tape on her mouth, it was obvious that her grandmother didn't know how to process that remark.

Penny sat up and caught her ropes on the knob that opened and closed the valve. "Now if I can just work a hand free… there!" Her slender hand poked free of the ropes to reveal the bulky watch on her wrist. "I'll have to activate the controls with my chin. Brain! Come in Brain! Can you hear me boy?"

* * *

><p>At that moment the bored orange dog waiting in the van jumped when earphones and a microphone slid out of his collar. "Bow-wow! Woof woof!" Brain barked.<p>

* * *

><p>"Brain, MAD agents have Grandma and me tied up in the basement," Penny's voice said through the earphones. "They're setting a trap for Uncle Gadget! You've got to get down here and free us! Uncle Gadget is outnumbered!"<p>

* * *

><p>Brain whined and considered his options. Inspector Gadget was caught under his parachute. Knowing him, it would take him a while to get inside. That left from two to five minutes to free Penny and Grandma Gadget. The dog looked in the back and saw the white creamy birthday cake covered in whip cream. He whined again. He was out of options; the cake would have to be sacrificed.<p>

* * *

><p>Now to call Chief Quimby," Penny grunted as she worked her other hand free. She pushed some buttons on her watch. "Calling Chief Quimby! You've got to help us! MAD agents have me and my grandmother tied up in the basement! You've got to hurry!" Penny looked up from her watch as the basement door opened and the large hulking MAD agent lumbered. "Oh no!" she gasped.<p>

"I _thought_ I heard voices in here," the huge MAD agent scolded. "No talking! I better keep you quiet little girl…"

"You keep your hands off me!" Penny protested as she squirmed helplessly on the floor. "Brain! Help!"

* * *

><p>Outside Inspector Gadget peeked out from under the parachute. "Come on! Go-go-Gadget Skeleton key!" He pulled the tip off one of his gloved fingers to reveal the teeth of a key and unlocked the front door. He stumbled inside but was stopped when he couldn't get his finger out of the lock. "Now what?" he grumbled as he put his foot against the door and pulled on his wrist. "If it isn't one thing it's another!"<p>

"Is that you dear?" asked a strange scratchy voice.

Gadget turned. "Mom?" his eyes widened in surprise. He walked into the room leaving his hand at the door. A flexible telescoping metal tube extended out of his sleeve to connect to his glove. In the meantime Gadget approached his mother; at least he _thought_ it was his mother. To be honest he wasn't sure.

The person standing in the full length, long sleeved, and high collared dress could have been Inspector Gadget in drag wearing a white wig. Well, that was the way his mother looked normally, but what was the deal with her eyes? For some reason, today her eyeglasses made her eyes look as big as saucers.

"Hello darling," his mother said in a hoarse unnatural voice.

"Mother, are you alright?" Gadget asked. "What's wrong with your voice?"

"Er um, I caught a cold," she coughed nervously.

"Why Mother, what _big_ eyes you got," Gadget gulped as the red parachute draped over his shoulders like a cape.

"Er uh… all the better to see you with," his 'mother' assured him.

"And Ma… what _big_ ears you got," Gadget frowned.

"All the better to hear you with," his 'mother' replied.

"And Mom… what a big Colt M1911 forty-five caliber automatic pistol you got pointed at me!" Gadget backed away in alarm.

"All the better to take you prisoner, Gadget!" his 'mother' snarled in a masculine voice while pulling the white wig off his head to reveal greasy black hair. It was Woolf, who had put on a dress, a wig, and eyeglasses to disguise himself as Grandma Gadget!

"Why Mother!" Gadget exclaimed. "What have you done to your hair? You look terrible!"

"I'm not your mother, you idiot!" Woolf tore the glasses off his face then opened his high collared dress to reveal that he was dressed similarly to the inspector. His shirt collar and tie were now visible. Come to think of it, a pair of trousers and feet clad in men's shoes was peeking out from under the long skirt.

"You're not my mother?" Gadget blinked. Abruptly, the bionic inspector's attitude changed from incredulity to arrogance. "Well, well, well. The old 'assassin disguised as my mother' trick, eh? That's the _second_ time I've fallen for it. Actually, I wasn't fooled for a minute. You were very clever my friend, but you made one tiny mistake! You forgot about the moustache!"

"But I don't have a moustache," Woolf protested.

"Er uh, yes," Gadget stammered, "but my mother does. Well I wasn't fooled for a second. I had a feeling you'd lay an ambush for me so I took the precaution of calling in the most highly trained SWAT team Metro City has to offer! At this very moment over twenty men with tear gas grenades and high powered rifles are surrounding the house! Would you believe it? Over twenty men!"

"I find that very hard to believe," Woolf said, calling his bluff.

"What about five men?" Gadget said weakly. "Would you believe that?"

"I don't think so," Woolf smiled.

"Then how about two little boys with a carton of eggs and some slingshots?" Gadget offered. "Would you believe _that_?"

"Quit stalling Gadget," Woolf gestured with his pistol. "You, me, your mother, your niece and the boys are going to out to the woods where we can finish you off quietly. Then I can take your place."

"Wowsers! I see it all now!" Gadget gasped. "Doctor Claw assigned you to replace me so the world will think I'm a transvestite!"

"No you idiot!" Woolf growled. "I'm supposed to replace you so I can kidnap the President when you go to that awards ceremony at the end of the month!"

"Oh yes," Gadget coughed. "That was my _second_ guess. Well it won't work my friend! Your plan is doomed to fail from the start. There's no way to get me to take a drive out to the woods with you!"

"Oh yeah?" Woolf pointed his gun in Gadget's face. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I can't get my finger out of the lock," Gadget blushed. He turned and pulled on his arm that was now a telescoping metal tube that ended in a gloved hand that had one of the fingers stuck in the lock. "Until I can get my hand free I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Woolf moaned. "Use butter or something!"

Gadget pulled on his arm and with one mighty heave this hand came loose. His arms snapped back violently, causing Gadget to stagger backwards into Woolf. The two men tumbled to the ground; the red parachute that had been draping Gadget's body like a cloak floated off him and covered Woolf.

"Now I got you!" Gadget seized Woolf by the collar and rose to his feet. "Go-go-Gadget Mallet!"

Gadget's arms shot out of his sleeves and smacked Woolf violently against the wall. The MAD agent groaned and tumbled to the ground. Plaster flaked off the wall where he had hit it leaving a man-shaped outline.

"Hm, not what I asked for, but it got the job done," Gadget mused as the parachute was sucked back into the crown of his hat.

"Woolf?" a voice asked from the cellar door. "Is Gadget giving you trouble?"

"Oh! Uh, just a minute!" Gadget called as he tore the dress off Woolf. Underneath the unconscious MAD agent was dressed exactly like Gadget, raincoat and all. Gadget quickly put the wig on his head but he forgot to take his hat off so the wig sat lopsided on his head. "Come in!"

Two MAD agents in street clothes walked in, pistols in their hands. One was a short bald guy wearing a cloth cap; the other was a slender, fair haired man who was about Gadget's height. "You okay, Woolf?" the short one asked.

"Have no fear gentlemen, I took out Inspector Gadget," the inspector crowed. "As you can see he wasn't so tough. He fell right into our trap!"

"What's the matter with your voice?" the thin one asked. "I think that Gadget might have pulled the old switcheroo on us, Lupo."

"I think you're right, Kane," the short agent growled as he pointed his gun at Gadget. "Okay, you! How do we know you're not Inspector Gadget?"

"Gentlemen, don't be absurd!" Inspector Gadget huffed arrogantly. "We broke in here and abducted Gadget's family. The real Inspector Gadget wouldn't hold back on something like this. If I was the real Inspector Gadget, you would be dead."

"If you were the real Inspector Gadget, _you_ would be dead!" Lupo sneered as he menaced Gadget with his revolver.

"Er uh, well… since neither one of us is dead, I can't be the real Inspector Gadget," the bionic inspector offered.

"You know, that actually makes sense," Kane said.

"That's right you ugly little troll," Gadget snapped. "Now where are the old lady and the little girl? We've got to take them out to the woods and dispose of them or they'll tell the police that I'm not the real Inspector Gadget!"

"We've got them stashed in the basement," Lupo gestured with his gun to the door. "I'll go out and move the van up to the house."

"Good, in the meantime hand me your gun," Gadget said as his arm telescoped out to reach for Lupo's revolver. "You're too trigger-happy. I don't want you shooting me as I come up the steps."

"Woolf!" Kane gasped. "Your arm!"

"It's Gadget!" Lupo blinked in realization.

"Whoops!" Gadget gulped. He smiled sheepishly at Lupo. "I uh, hope I wasn't out of line with that crack about the ugly little troll."

_Next: Happy Birthday Mom! _


	7. Happy Birthday Mom!

**Inspector Gadget: The Case of the Red Hood**

_Inspector Gadget and all related characters and setting are owned by __**Cookie Jar Entertainment**__. DiC remains an in-credit name only. _

_Chapter Seven: Happy Birthday Mom! _

In the basement at her grandma's house, Penny struggled against her captor, a huge hulking MAD agent with a broken nose. Grandma Gadget was tied to a chair with tape on her mouth and could only watch helplessly as the huge, apelike man seized her granddaughter. The ropes that had bound Penny were now only loosely coiled around her body, but Penny was no match against the humongous MAD agent who had picked her up off the ground and had his large catcher's mitt size hand over her mouth.

Just when all seemed lost a basement window was forced open and in leapt a large orange dog with dripping white foam on its muzzle. The dog's body tensed to spring as the ferocious canine growled at the man.

"Yeah!" the huge MAD agent dropped Penny and backed away. "Mad dog!" With that, he turned and ran up the basement stairs.

Meanwhile upstairs, two MAD agents, Lupo and Kane had Inspector Gadget at gunpoint. They kept him covered as they backed up to the cellar door. Behind Gadget was the unconscious form of Woolf, a MAD agent who looked so much like the bionic inspector that he could have been his stunt double.

"So… thought you were smart, huh Gadget?" sneered the short bald and tubby Lupo. Thought you could trick us by pretending to be Woolf is that it?"

"Well, I kind of hoped," Gadget said as he pulled a white wig off his gray fedora.

"Too bad," hissed the slender fair-haired Kane. "How do you want it?"

"Yeah," sniggered Lupo. "How do you want to die, Gadget?"

"How do I want to die?" Gadget asked thoughtfully. "Hm, I'll have to think about it. How about old age?"

"Real funny," Lupo sneered. "That was your last joke. Sorry Gadget but your time just ran out." The two gunmen raised their pistols and took aim…

…right when the door flew open, knocking down Lupo and pinning Kane behind it. The gorilla sized MAD agent burst into the room, his Neanderthal-like features contorted in fear. "Mad dog! Mad dog!"

"Wowzers!" Gadget exclaimed as the linebacker sized agent plowed into him. The bionic Inspector found himself on the floor with large dirty footprints on his chest. "Anybody get the number of that truck?" The only response he got was the cellar door swinging on its hinges to reveal an unconscious Kane sliding down to the floor, leaving a man shaped outline of flaking plaster on the wall behind him.

Downstairs the orange dog licked the whip cream and white frosting off his muzzle to reveal that he was Inspector Gadget's dog Brain. He stood up on his hind legs and helped Penny get free of her ropes.

"Brain! You're a lifesaver!" Penny gushed. "Quick! Go upstairs and help Uncle Gadget while I untie Grandma!"

"Rright!" he nodded in a strange guttural voice. Without hesitation, he dashed upstairs on all fours to see a dazed Lupo reaching for his gun.

"Hey!" Lupo protested when Brain's teeth went around his wrist. "Leggo you stupid mutt! Get off!"

"_I'll_ take that gun," Gadget said as his arm telescoped out to seize the pistol. "You're in a lot of trouble fella. You made the mistake of invading the house of an ex-marine's mother! Good work, Brain!"

The orange dog smiled as he sat on the prostate Lupo.

"Now you ugly mug, where are my niece and my mother?" Gadget growled.

"Uncle Gadget, you're all right!" Penny cheered as she and Grandma Gadget emerged from the basement.

"Of course Penny, it takes smarter thugs than these to get the drop on Inspector Gadget!" he smiled as his niece and mother embraced him. "Mom, Penny, I was so worried about you! I can't believe anything like this could happen! No one has ever gone after my family before!"

"What about the time that MAD agents kidnapped me and took my place?" Grandma Gadget asked. "You didn't notice the difference for a week!"

"Er uh… yes, but that was a one-time thing," Gadget stammered.

"What about the time MAD agents blew up my parents' lab," Penny added. "You can't possibly forget that!"

"And then there was the time your sister was shadowed by foreign spies who wanted to steal her invention," his mother added. "You can't forget that, Maxwell."

"Of course not mother," Gadget admitted, "but aside of those times, nobody has ever gone after my family before. Doctor Claw has gone too far this time. One day I swear I'll get him!"

Miles away in a hidden room Doctor Claw growled at the image of Gadget and his family on his computer monitor. "One day Gadget I'll get _you! _But not today. I'll get you when you're least expecting it. And I won't waste any more resources going after your family. I'll get _you_! Enjoy life while you can Gadget. I'll get you _next time_ Gadget… _Next time_…"

Back at Grandma Gadget's house, Chief Quimby and three uniformed police officers entered through the front door. "Gadget! Thank goodness you're safe! We picked up a man down the block screaming about a mad dog. When he told us what house it was in we arrested him. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine chief," Gadget smiled as he indicated the MAD agents lying on the ground. "Here's three more of them while you're at it. We can press charges tomorrow. Today is my mother's birthday and we want to spend it together."

"I understand," Quimby nodded as his officers put the stunned MAD agents in handcuffs. "Did you ever find out what all this was about?"

"That handsome fellow in the raincoat spilled the beans," Gadget nodded to Woolf, who was being hoisted to his feet and being read his rights. "It seems that he wanted to get me out of the way so he could take my place when I attend that awards ceremony and meet the President of the United States. With a little makeup that man could fool anyone who didn't know me that well and get close enough to the President to make his move. It was devilishly clever!"

"My goodness, he looks like your brother!" Quimby exclaimed as he looked at Woolf. "The resemblance is uncanny. No wonder your police sketch looked just like you. Dressed like that, from a distance no one could tell the difference!"

"Exactly Chief," Gadget nodded. "The hard part was getting me out of the way. They set a trap for me at the bowling alley and when that didn't work they lied in wait for me at my mother's house. There's no limit to how low an international evil organization is willing to go. Still, it's quite a pity. If only he used his good looks for niceness instead of evil…"

"Please get him out of here," Penny frowned. "He's been chasing me all day. I can't stand to look at him Chief Quimby, he's evil."

"An ugly character if I ever saw one," Quimby nodded before giving an embarrassed cough. "Sorry about that Gadget."

Gadget frowned and cleared his throat indignantly.

"Hey Uncle Gadget, did I hear you say you used to be a marine?" Penny asked as she tried to change the subject. "I didn't know that. Did you fight any wars?"

"Did I fight any wars?" Gadget repeated pompously. "As a matter of fact, I jumped out of a plane during Operation Desert Storm!"

"Wow!" Penny's eyes widened. "Really? Did you win any medals Uncle Gadget?"

"Not really Penny," Gadget blushed. "To be honest I jumped out of the plane before it left the runway."

Penny started laughing. Pretty soon her Uncle Gadget, Brain, Grandma Gadget and Quimby were laughing too.

Later Inspector Gadget and his family were eating dinner at Bianchi's Restaurant atop Metro Tower, one of the most expensive restaurants in the city. They had a table near the window and could look out at the terrace and the spectacular view of the city from that altitude. Inspector Gadget wore a tuxedo under his raincoat and fedora. Penny and Grandma Gadget wore evening gowns. Brain was allowed in because Grandma Gadget agreed to wear dark glasses and carry a white cane with a red tip.

"I hope today taught you a valuable lesson Penny, and you too Mother," the bionic inspector lectured. Every year thousands of women and children are attacked. Young children and the elderly are especially vulnerable, but every woman should be on her guard. It's time you two learned the basics of self-defense."

"But Uncle Gadget, Grandma's getting up there, and I'm a little girl," Penny pointed out. "It's not like we've got a lot of upper body strength."

"Not to worry Penny," Gadget assured her. "Ninety percent of self-defense is being alert and avoiding violence. Essentially, self-defense is keeping out of trouble, but to do that successfully you have to be aware of all situations and circumstances in which trouble is likely to arise. The most important thing to do is to stay alert!"

Brain couldn't help chuckling hearing Inspector Gadget say 'stay alert'.

"We should make an effort to understand your surroundings," Penny nodded. "Walk or hang out in areas that are open, well lit, and well-traveled. Become familiar with the buildings, parking lots, parks, and other places you walk. Pay particular attention to places where someone could hide — such as stairways and bushes."

"Avoid shortcuts that take you through isolated areas like underpasses, parking garages, public parks, railroad tracks, or building sites," Inspector Gadget said.

"If you're going out at night, travel in a group," Grandma Gadget suggested.

"Make sure your friends and parents know your daily schedule," Inspector Gadget added. "If you go on a date or with friends for an after-game snack, let someone know where you're going and when you expect to return. Believe it or not, you _want_ your loved ones to know where you are at all times."

"When riding on public transportation, sit near the driver and stay awake," Penny suggested. "When riding the subway us girls should try to sit near the other women. Attackers are looking for lone targets."

"A child should always carry a cell phone," Gadget nodded. "It should always be programmed with the phone number of a parent or guardian."

"If you're walking on the sidewalk, walk on the side of the street against the flow of traffic," Penny nodded. "That way you're difficult to follow. If someone in a vehicle bothers you, you should head against traffic so he can't use his car to chase you."

"If someone threatens you in a public place, don't be afraid to yell at him and make some noise," Gadget said. "Remember, you want to cause a scene; your attacker doesn't."

"If you think you're being followed, head to a public place," Penny suggested. "Restaurants and other eateries almost always have people about."

"Speaking of restaurants, there are lots of people _here_," Gadget looked around. "But I wonder where our waiter is. He must be in the back getting ready with your birthday cake, Mom."

"Please Maxwell, I don't want you to tell them it's my birthday," Grandma Gadget groaned. "I hate the new birthday song they sing."

"Ah come on Mom," Gadget laughed. "This is a special day. It's your birthday!"

"I've had over sixty birthdays," Grandma Gadget sighed. "The thrill is gone."

"Here's something that might give you a thrill," Penny pointed behind them. "Chief Quimby is coming, and it looks like he brought an Egyptian mummy."

Inspector Gadget, Brain, and Grandma Gadget turned to see Chief Quimby pushing a short, fat figure that was completely covered by a body cast. Perched on its head was Corporal Capeman's flying goggles.

"Hello there Gadget, I've got good news," the police chief smiled. "Corporal Capeman survived his wounds. With luck he should make a full recovery."

"Why chief that's wonderful!" Gadget rose from the table. "Congratulations Capman! It'll take more than Doctor Claw's got to finish _you_!" he grinned while clapping Capeman on the back. "Here's to your full recovery!"

"Even though we've got your lookalike behind bars I can't help but think it might be a good idea for you and Penny to go away for a while," Quimby said as Capeman's wheelchair rolled away. "Until you attend the awards ceremony at the end of the month you're on vacation Gadget. Take your family somewhere nice and lie low until you meet the President."

"Why thank you chief," Gadget smiled as Capeman's wheelchair rattled down a short flight of steps and pushed its way out to the terrace. "It's not even my birthday," he said as Capeman's wheelchair rolled out to the edge. "Well what do you know, this mission was a complete success!" he added as Capeman's wheelchair hit the edge of the terrace and tipped him over the side of the tower. "We managed to foil Doctor Claw's plan and nobody died!"

END


End file.
